Report.az
The main goal of the Turkish national team at the U-23 European Wrestling Championship held in Zrenjanin, Serbia, is to be in the top "three".
This was stated by Soner Demirtaş, the head coach of both the main and U-23 Turkish national freestyle wrestling teams, in an interview with the "Report" correspondent assigned to the competition.
The specialist first provided information about the team's composition and medal expectations in the tournament:
"We have come to the European Championship with a team of 10 people. The same athletes who won several medals at the World and European Championships last year are also competing here. We aim to be in the top "three" in the team standings and win at least 5 medals individually. Our team is very strong, and some of our wrestlers are already ready to compete in the senior category. We expect at least two championships from them."
S. Demirtaş spoke about the competitive environment in the tournament and the countries he considers favorites:
"As for the favorites in the championship, many countries compete with legionary athletes. Currently, the national teams of many countries have at least 4 or 5 wrestlers of Dagestan origin. This makes the competition very difficult and raises the level. Russia is the country that does this at the highest level, and they are currently doing well in the team standings as well. They are the biggest favorite. Even if Russians do not compete under their own name, they are still considered favorites in the squads of other countries. The Russian team will be included in the list here for the first time; when they were not there, the medals were distributed among other countries."
The specialist specifically emphasized the shortcomings in the organization of the competition and the difficulties faced by the athletes:
"The organization is weak. The athletes stay in Novi Sad, and the competition hall is 80-90 kilometers away from there. Wrestlers wake up at 5:00 in the morning and come, and weigh-in is at 7:30. They cannot return to the hotel all day and sleep on mattresses. The current weigh-in system is very tiring for the athletes. They stay hungry all day and participate in 4-5 meetings, which is very harmful to their health. The United World Wrestling (UWW) needs to change this system urgently and restore the rule of the day before the competition."
Finally, the head coach touched upon the decline in spectator interest and the course of the tournament:
"As you can see, there are very few spectators. Matches that last from morning to evening bore people; no one wants to watch. The planning of the competitions must be restructured in a more interesting way and in accordance with the interests of the athletes."
